Can any 13-inch rMBP (all dual-core) run Windows smoothly in Parallels?

[RngRngBananaRam]

Has anyone run Windows in Parallels on a 13 inch rMBP? Were you multitasking between Windows and OS X, or were you using only one OS at a time?

Every 13-inch rMBP has a dual-core processor (including the i7 models), and I've only used virtual machines on a quad-core desktop processor. I'd like to know what I could expect. Thanks!

 

[ktc]

Yes, it is smooth. Many have used Parallels 8, 9 etc. on their last generation MBP and current/old gen MBA and it has worked smoothly and well.

I haven't gotten the new one yet, but would not expect the new hardware to be worse unless there is an incompatibility with Mavericks.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Get 16 GB and a large SSD

 

[BrettApple]

It should be smooth as butter on one of those machines.

I am currently running on a Late 2008 MacBook with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and 8GB RAM and I run Mavericks with Aperture, Photoshop, iTunes, Safari/Chrome and Office apps open most of the time, while also running a Windows 7 X64 VM in Parallels 9 for some specific Windows apps. I haven't seen any issues whatsoever as far as performance is concerned, and my machine is much less powerful, yet still very speedy.

 

[RngRngBananaRam]

It should be smooth as butter on one of those machines.

I am currently running on a Late 2008 MacBook with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and 8GB RAM and I run Mavericks with Aperture, Photoshop, iTunes, Safari/Chrome and Office apps open most of the time, while also running a Windows 7 X64 VM in Parallels 9 for some specific Windows apps. I haven't seen any issues whatsoever as far as performance is concerned, and my machine is much less powerful, yet still very speedy.

Thanks for the insight! I'm still a bit nervous about having only one core to share with Windows, but apparently, my concerns are unfounded.

 

[BrettApple]

Thanks for the insight! I'm still a bit nervous about having only one core to share with Windows, but apparently, my concerns are unfounded.

No problem, you should be just fine. The virtual machine can access both cores along with OS X, so they both run with both cores. Shouldn't be too much slow down, and the newer CPUs are hyper threaded as well.

Here's how Parallels is showing up for my setup.

 

[sbuesy]

It should be smooth as butter on one of those machines.

I am currently running on a Late 2008 MacBook with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and 8GB RAM and I run Mavericks with Aperture, Photoshop, iTunes, Safari/Chrome and Office apps open most of the time, while also running a Windows 7 X64 VM in Parallels 9 for some specific Windows apps. I haven't seen any issues whatsoever as far as performance is concerned, and my machine is much less powerful, yet still very speedy.

Hi Brett,

Not sure if you would be able to shed any light, but I am trying to find out whether I will be able to run Windows 8.1 in Parallels 9 on my Late 2008 MacBook? So far, yours is the only post that has come close to matching my criteria.

I know that I wouldn't be able to run it natively using the BootCamp version (4) so I'm wondering whether this will indicate an exclusion/problem when trying to run it from Parallels too?

Thanks in advance for any help.

S

 

[BrettApple]

Hi Brett,

Not sure if you would be able to shed any light, but I am trying to find out whether I will be able to run Windows 8.1 in Parallels 9 on my Late 2008 MacBook? So far, yours is the only post that has come close to matching my criteria.

I know that I wouldn't be able to run it natively using the BootCamp version (4) so I'm wondering whether this will indicate an exclusion/problem when trying to run it from Parallels too?

Thanks in advance for any help.

S

I have run Windows 8.1 in Parallels 9 on this MacBook, and it ran just fine! As long as you make sure Parallels is up to date, it's got all the included tools for it to run great.

I've also used Windows 8 in Boot Camp, but it was not easy finding all the drivers by hand, though it can be done.

Having an SSD and 8GB of RAM greatly improves this, however it will work with 4GB RAM and the stock hard drive too. With less RAM though, I'd suggest using the 32bit version. It tends to run better in VM's and uses less memory.

Since Parallels uses virtualization, it is exempt from any restrictions Apple may place on the machine. Such as an old MacBook that is still on Snow Leopard can run Windows 8 in a VM just fine. As long as the hardware supports it.

Hope I could be of help!

 

[sbuesy]

I have run Windows 8.1 in Parallels 9 on this MacBook, and it ran just fine! As long as you make sure Parallels is up to date, it's got all the included tools for it to run great.

I've also used Windows 8 in Boot Camp, but it was not easy finding all the drivers by hand, though it can be done.

Image

Having an SSD and 8GB of RAM greatly improves this, however it will work with 4GB RAM and the stock hard drive too. With less RAM though, I'd suggest using the 32bit version. It tends to run better in VM's and uses less memory.

Since Parallels uses virtualization, it is exempt from any restrictions Apple may place on the machine. Such as an old MacBook that is still on Snow Leopard can run Windows 8 in a VM just fine. As long as the hardware supports it.

Hope I could be of help!

Brett - thank you so much for replying (and so quickly)! This has helped greatly!

Best,
S